Atlantic Shootout - Leslie

ATLANTIC Shootout returns with the mega swell producer Tropical Storm Leslie, first prize is a surf trip to the Maldives including flights with the experienced guides at theperfectwave.

We're looking for your finest efforts at capturing Leslie, a unique lady capable of delivering exceptional surf. Ordinarily it would be unusual to get excited about a tropical storm, which despite being likely, may never transition into a hurricane. We'd normally be hoping for a Category 5 behemoth swinging-in but just missing landfall. Here on the other hand we have Tropical Storm Leslie, perfect, but for entirely different reasons. Sat squat and almost immobile north of the Leeward Islands (currently heading due north at a mere 2 knots) Leslie is a large unconventional system sat sandwiched in the Atlantic but with a large enough fetch to spin out days of swell in the 'fun' to 'extremely enjoyable' range.

All too often hurricanes move fast and the swell peaks suddenly, often uncontrollably, before quickly petering out. However this large dependable system is already delivering pumping swell to the East Coast, and is forecast to continue to do so throughout the weekend before maybe, eventually, making it around to Europe. We'll let you know at what date the comp closes but assume at least two weeks.

Forecast to roll up and round the Atlantic, Leslie, should deliver surf to much of the North Atlantic as it makes the transition to extratropical (warm to cold core) and spins out towards Northern Europe. Photo submissions are welcomed from the entire Atlantic Basin if the storm acts as currently forecasted.

The trip itself is abord the Haira and the Male atolls home to: Chickens, Cokes, Lohis, Honkeys, Sultans etc. We are including your flight from wherever you are plus we'll publish a photo feature on your trip. Big thanks to theperfectwave.eu.com for offering the prize, full details here.

You can upload your pics HERE and we'll consider all images uploaded from the regions as eligible until the swell stops. We'll run galleries of the best of images as they drop in before notifying you of the final submission deadline.

N.B.

- If possible caption the photos, tell us: who or what is in the shot and what happened during the wave/session/swell.

- All photos need to be 1000 pixels or more at their widest point.

- You can add to the selection if we miss any using the 'Atlantic Shootout' tag.